


Callsign: Reaper

by maddfire



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Other, pre d2, pre red war, the taken king - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 13:57:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15775491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maddfire/pseuds/maddfire
Summary: The Taken King has arrived to seek revenge for his fallen son. One unlikely Guardian rises at this time and must destroy Oryx or risk the entire solar system collapsing. Between this, she must also learn what it means to be a Guardian and learning how to care for a race she's spent her whole life denying.





	1. Battle of Saturn

It seemed as if the Awoken were unable to catch a break, find any sort of peace since the Queen allowed that first Guardian into the Reef. After years of battles and fights with the House of Wolves, they knew of some peace – some kind of resemblance to their past and yet, ever since that Guardian entered their home war has been all they have known. And here they were again, risking it all for the Last City and its humans. Between the Reef Wars, Skolas’ escape and his murder of the Awoken, the quiet and dormant race has been pushed to the forefront of this system’s calamities. But something about this battle seemed bigger, more meaningful; and with a good purpose. The Awoken fleet moved quickly through space, the Queen on her Ketch and the Prince in his ship. Our story starts with one Corsair, sat in her own ship, following the commands of her rulers with extreme detail.

“Reaper, lead squad six through the belt and try to flank the Hive.” A commander’s voice came over the radio, calm and collected.

“Understood. Squad six, follow me.” Her voice was strong and commanding, hands moved deftly across the controls as she went into a dive, several ships not far behind. The asteroids that made up Saturn’s belt were thick and heavy, but the ships moved with such speed and precision that the pilots didn’t seem to notice the obstacles. Above them a battle waged between the Hive and the Awoken, ships destroyed and debris littered the cosmos. “Engage cloaking, slow speed. Keep it low and steady.” Reaper’s voice ordered, flicking a few switches on the console in front of her, looking out the ship she watched as the ships around her slowly vanished, a mirror like effect taking place. On her radar she could still see their positioning as she moved carefully below the asteroids. Three ships got into position behind her, two more stayed slightly above and without saying a word everyone knew what would happen next.

Or, so they thought. Out of the corner of her eye, Reaper spotted them – the Harbingers soaring through the sky from the Queen’s Ketch, tearing through Hive Tombships. They were a last resort, no talk of planning mentioned them. “Abort. Stay cloaked, return to the Queen’s Ketch – protect her at all cost. Captain’s orders.” Her voice was stronger, more demanding than before. Her grip on the controls tightened as she watched the five ships move away from her, she watched from her spot below it all. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, the Harbingers ripping apart Hive ships with ease and Reaper slowly began to rise her ship up and through the belt once again, prepared to celebrate a victory but when they impacted the Dreadnaught nothing happened. A silence seemed to follow as everything and everyone hung there in space, watching Oryx’s ship light up. Instinct kicked in and Reaper gunned it. Speeding past everything and everyone towards the Dreadnaught, doing her best to outrace the energy being collected there.

The next events happened very quickly. First, the energy met, circling together. Second, Reaper’s ship gave out, engine stalling, and controls flashing. She struggled against her seat belt but eventually got free, hit the escape button and was dropped through the ship, tumbling onto a walkway of the Dreadnaught. Third, the weapon fired.

* * *

 

Reaper slowly came to, eyes fluttering behind her helmet, a pain across her entire body like she’d never felt before and a voice – a vaguely familiar voice. Moving caused bursts of pain but soon she spotted it, the source of talking. Immediately she shot up, ignoring her body’s protest as she snatched the Ghost before her.

“Whoa! Whoa! What’s the–”

“What are you doing here?” Her voice is sore, no longer strong and resilient, it throws her off but she holds her resolve, grip tightening on the little thing.

“Ow! I’m – I’m your Ghost, isn’t it obvious? Please let me go!” The robotic voice and light flickering is painful on her senses and eventually her grip slowly loosens before letting the Ghost free. It floats away for a moment, shell pulsating as if to shake off the feeling. Now ignoring it, Reaper pushed herself against the wall of the Dreadnaught, looking out at the destruction before her. The Ghost is still talking but she’s drowned him out, trying to recall her memories. The battle, the Harbingers, and… and… something terrible happening.

“What happened?” She finally said, interrupting the Ghost on some long speech.

“Oh, do you not know? Well, you’ve been dead for a few days so, honestly it’s a little odd. Most Guardians are a lot older than – Right, sorry. There was a fight between Oryx and the Queen Mara Sov, it… didn’t end well for the Awoken. Might be the reason you’re on this ship currently.” It replied, trying to soften its voice as it delivered the news. Ahead of them remains of Hive and Awoken ships sat in the air, unmoving in the void of space.

“And what of the Queen?” She replied softly, not breaking eye contact with what was her ruler’s Ketch, or at least the remains of it.

“We haven’t heard anything. It is safe to believe she is dead. We have not gotten word from any Awoken forces. We know nothing of Prince Uldren as well.”

The words hung in the air, finally a silence between them. Reaper felt something akin to tears form in her eyes but she blinked them away, refusing to mourn the possible loss of her Queen or civilization. The Awoken have come back from much more, and they will come back from this. Against the wishes of her body, the pushed herself into a standing position, not letting out a single complaint. “Allow me –” her Ghost started, pushing its shell further out.

“Don’t. Let me feel this.” She snapped, standing up straight. Shoulders back and proud, Reaper gave one look at her surroundings before moving further into the Dreadnaught.


	2. The Dreadnaught

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the weapon is fired, the Vanguard debate what to do about Oryx. Meanwhile, Cayde-6 has already put in action a plan. Reaper has spent days trapped on the ship, surviving while trying to think of a way to escape.

“You know, this is a terrible idea. I cannot believe Cayde talked you into it.” A female voice came over the intercoms, its high pitched and oozes sarcasm and anger. “This is a big fucking mistake waiting to happen, I can tell you that.”

“Well no one asked you, so shut up and stay quiet. Besides, if you’re so smart why didn’t you come up with a better plan?” The response is robotic, even in tone and a bit hard to pin down as far as feminine or masculine is considered. There’s rustling in the back of the ship, the sounds of a small tussle taking place and other unkind words being exchanged between the exo and human but it quickly stops when an odd hissing sounds happen. Eris Morn’s ship was full of all sorts of creepy crawlies and both found it more threatening than the other’s jabs.

“Both of you, stay still and behave. We’re coming up on the Dreadnaught now, at least try to act like you’re Guardians and know what you’re doing.” Another woman’s voice echoed throughout the ship, there was a tone of a leader and immediately the two stopped their roughhousing and settled back in their seats. It had been a few days since the fireteam’s trip to Phobos and the discovery of Oryx and the Taken and they’d done their best to move quickly. Some of the team wasn’t too sold on Cayde’s plan but they all knew the importance of it and decided they’d rather die trying than have another end of the world scenario like they did with Crota. As the ship slowly moved through the remains of the battle, the exo softly said, “I hope some of them made it out.” There was no response, all of them knowing the price the Awoken paid, taking a quiet moment to mourn.

“Okay, Ghost engage stealth drive.” The leader spoke, Brienne, a dark skinned Titan who towered over the rest of her teammates in both stature and abilities. Her Ghost materialized and pulsed with light before bobbing up and down in what could only be assumed as a ‘yes’.

“Stealth drive activated. Here goes nothing.” The being of light replied, hovering close to its guardian. Everyone held their breath as the ship slowly moved across space towards the Dreadnaught. It seemed like eternity which all quickly shifted as the ship began to glow. “They see us!” the Ghost shouted, flying around the ship frantically. In silence, Brienne thrust the ship forward, forcing everyone to crash against the back of their seat and for her Ghost to vanish out of fear. They raced forward, no one said anything and the two behind her both prayed this wouldn’t be their end. The weapon lit up and exploded outward, the ship vaporized into ash and a few left over pieces. The three Guardians landed on the side of the Dreadnaught, brought down by their Ghosts.

“Well this is just fucking fantastic!” Laura shouted, turning to look out at the empty space behind her. She was much shorter than Brienne, her Warlock robes flaring around as she spun in anger, arms rising into the air. “Now we’re stuck on this nightmare with no ship and – guess what! No rescue because there’s not another stealth drive!” Next to her, the exo Hunter started to move, the soft whirring noise of their robotic form was a distinct indication that another argument was about to break out.

“Quiet!” Brienne’s voice boomed over the two, her foot stomping loudly against the ground which resonated deeply despite the dust and dirt on the floor. “Laura, get it together. I do not need you on one of your tirades right now. We are in some deep shit and we are all very aware of it. You shouting it into the cosmos will do nothing to help our current situation. If anything, we need you on your top game. This is one of the biggest Hive ships and the home of a God. We need you to share any information that might be useful. And you –” She said, turning her gaze to the Hunter, who was already trying to shrink into their armor, vanish from this very existence. “Don’t egg her on. I need you sharp and focused. This is an extremely deadly situation we are in and there is no time for jokes or pranks or ‘friendly debates’. When we make it off this place, you can yell as much as you two would like at each other but now is not the goddamn time. Do you understand me?”

There was a silence, no one speaking before Brienne roared once more, “Do you understand me?”

“Yes, captain.” They both replied quickly, standing up straighter, arms at their sides.

“Good, now let’s move out. Stay close and keep your eyes peeled. We will not die today.”

* * *

 

Three days stuck on the Dreadnaught. Three days of hiding from Hive and Oryx’s eyes, though Reaper never truly came across him considering how massive the ship is and for the most part stayed in one area. Her Ghost did its best to keep her company and sane but as far as she was concerned, it was not helping and only worsening the situation. Her Vestian Dynasty never left her hands, she had a limited number of bullets and planned to use them carefully. Occasionally she would slide the clip out and count them, making sure none had magically vanished while upon the Dreadnaught. Ten rounds remaining. Her clip had been full when she first awoke and began her journey throughout the ship but over the course of three days five shots had been made. Her Ghost talked about trying to get her back to the Tower and it was doing its best to send out signals to the Vanguard or any nearby Guardian but hadn’t had the luck and with good reason, who knew when help would arrive out here – if it ever even came.

The passing of time was hard to keep track of, in all honesty Reaper wasn’t sure if it had been three days or more, it felt like an eternity. As they carefully moved through the halls of the massive ship, she stopped, hearing a familiar noise echo throughout the halls, the ground beneath her vibrating. Her Ghost noticed this and bobbed to speak up and she immediately held a hand up, a gesture it had quickly learned meant ‘don’t say a word’. The weapon was firing again, but why? The Awoken had sent their biggest fleet and without the Queen to command them they would not be foolish enough to make another attack like that. Perhaps Earth? If so that would mean Guardians and a rescue, but judging by the loud boom and resonating feeling of the energy in the air, it was safe to say whatever had gotten close most likely suffered the same fate as the Awoken. Once the ship settled down again her Ghost lit up brightly, shell pulsating with excitement.

“Guardians! Other Guardians are here!” It said, floating happily around as if trying to dance.

“Where are they?” She replied, eyes widening, the grip on her weapon tightening. The Ghost pulsated again, looking in different directions before moving towards one doorway. Reaper nodded and quickly followed, being a little reckless as she ran through the Dreadnaught, dodging Hive and moving past them. Her Ghost would give quick directions, take a left here, straight forward, jump this gap. She felt many different emotions, everything about her past said to hate Guardians and Earth but now she was one – vaguely, and all at the very least they could do was maybe get her off this ship and give her answers. Was the Queen safe? Sliding under some debris, Reaper ran into an open hull area, a giant Cabal ship crashed next to her.

“There! Over there!” Her Ghost chirped, shining brightly and floating above her. “Guardians! Guardians, we’re here!”

The fireteam was a little busy dealing with Cabal and Hive forces after setting down a transmat beacon but it was Al-4, the exo who heard them first. Turning quickly, there was a large smile behind their helmet and they quickly tapped Brienne who stood next to them. “Well, I’ll be damned.” The Hunter said, letting their hand canon drop to their side and waving frantically with the other hand. In that moment Reaper began to remember why she disliked these people so much. Putting that aside from the moment, she mustered the last of her strength and moved across the breach towards the fireteam.

“Holy shit!” Laura started, looking up from her prone position against a sniper rifle. Expressions hidden behind helmets and masks, when Reaper fully approached she kept her distance, sizing up the group before her. There were three in total, one of each class, all of different sizes. The one on the ground wore flowy robes, unpractical for battle. The one who had waved at her was rather short, bright colorful armor and a long hooded cape. The last one who hadn’t said a word stood between them, heavily armored and taller than all of them, Reaper included. She addressed her first.

“You are Guardians, correct? I am Corsair Captain Reaper of the Awoken Queen’s military.” Despite the harsh past few days, she stood with her shoulders back and proud, weapon holstered in what was remaining. “I believe… I am a Guardian as well and require assistance. I have been stuck on this ship for some time now.”

“Is your name really reaper or are you just trying to be some kind of hardass?” The person from the prone position asked, slowly moving to stand up.

“Quiet.” The middle figure said, gaze not moving from the Awoken before her. “Reaper, was it? I am Brienne, captain and leader of this fireteam. That there is Laura and this is Al-4. We were sent to disable the weapon and after some difficulties managed to do just that. Our ships will be arriving shortly, we would be happy to bring you home.”

Her face twisted at that word, hidden under the cracked visor of her helmet. The Last City was not home and would never be home. Her home was the Reef and the Awoken but who knows what kind of state that place is in given what had taken place. She lets out a small sigh, as if she had been holding her breath from the moment she was resurrected on this ship. “Thank you.”


End file.
